The rental company has partnered with Amazon Autos to sell used vehicles in four major U.S. metro areas.
The goal is to expand this service to all 45 of Hertz’s car sales locations across the country.
Electric cars are expected to make up a significant proportion of the cars for sale.
Rental car giant Hertz has announced a partnership with Amazon that will allow customers to buy its used cars online.
In addition to its traditional network of car sales in physical stores, Hertz will offer up former rental cars on Amazon Autos, an online platform launched last year in the United States.
Initially intended for new vehicles (still exclusively from Hyundai), this platform has expanded to include used and certified pre-owned vehicles from selected dealerships in over 130 American cities.
At first, pre-owned Hertz rental cars will be available for purchase on Amazon Autos within 75 miles (120 kilometres) of Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, and Seattle, but plans are already in place to expand the program to the company’s sales division’s entire network of 45 locations nationwide.
Hyundai – Amazon partnership | Photo: HyundaiWhile all types of vehicles used by the rental company will be put up for sale on Amazon Autos, electric cars are expected to make up a significant proportion of the entire inventory.
Indeed, Hertz has backtracked on its plan to operate a fleet of tens of thousands of electric vehicles due to a lack of customer interest.
Just last year, the company sold off 30,000 EVs, mostly Chevrolet Bolts, Tesla Model 3s and Polestar 2s, in order to replace them with more popular gas-powered models.
Hertz hopes to reduce operating costs and increase profit margins by selling its used cars through Amazon after having lost U.S. $2,9 billion in 2024.
This plan is getting off to a good start since Reuters reports that Hertz’s shares climbed 7% in the hours following its announcement of the Amazon partnership on Wednesday, despite other car rental or sales groups losing valuation during the same period.
A quick look at the Amazon Autos webpage shows 162 vehicles available for free pickup at Hertz’s Seattle Auto Sales location, including lots of models such as the Ford Edge, Chevrolet Equinox, GMC Terrain, Volvo XC40, Volkswagen Jetta, Toyota Corolla, and Nissan Sentra.
In Los Angeles, four Hertz Car Sales locations are advertising a total of 319 vehicles, mostly similar to those in Seattle, with the exception of a larger proportion of convertible Ford Mustangs.
Interestingly, no electric vehicles currently show up as part of Hertz’s inventory on Amazon Autos, but this is expected to change as the program ramps up in scale over the coming weeks and months.
Source: Reuters
